Index or like filing systems



Oct. 3, 1961 J. DAHM 3,002,796

INDEX OR LIKE FILING SYSTEMS Filed Sept. 30, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR: JA N DA HM.

Oct. 3, 1961 J, M 3,002,796

INDEX OR LIKE FILING SYSTEMS Filed Sept. 30, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR:

JAN DA HM.

BYGLLANAAU'W Oct. 3, 1961 J. DAHM INDEX OR LIKE FILING SYSTEMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 30, 1959 INVENTOR: JA N DA HM.

BY I

ATTOILNEAS Oct. 3, 1961 J. DAHM INDEX OR LIKE FILING SYSTEMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 iled Sept. 30, 1959 9v: @v x h mm 93 6% Q 9? w? as vm R E Q B mm L a 8 cw 5 mm M E Q 9 Q mm E IIIMII IN-[Ill- M mm v mm ,8 @N 8 N mm my INVENTOR: JAN DA HM.

Glbkwhv-W A'( l Oil-MESS Patented Oct. 3, 1961 3,002,796 INDEX R LIKE ING SYSTEMS Jan Dalrm, Bergen, Norway, assignor to C. Dahms Ingemorforretning A/ S, Bryggen, Bergen, Norway Filed Sept. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 843,432 Claims priority, application Norway Oct. 1, 1958 13 Claims. (Cl. 312-184) The present invention relates to a filing system for cards, particularly a system for the filing of a large number of cards in groups, in which system easy access to a predetermined card to be inspected is obtained.

More specifically, the invention relates to the filing of such cards which are classified in a large number of groups, it being desirable to expose an entire group at a time for inspection and eventually to enter new matter into specific card or cards of such group.

It has been proposed, and is well known in the art, to have a number of filing cards stacked in partially overlapping relationship upon ribs or studs extending through openings in the card adjacent their rear edges, whereby a group of cards are stacked together with a portion of each card visible, to form what may be called a visible margin stack. Such stacking in a visible margin manner has the advantage that the exposed portion (visible margin) of the card may be used for texting, enabling the operator to detect the location of any particular card in the stack. Furthermore, such arrangement of the cards in staggered relation or in a visible margin stack enables easy access to such particular card. A third advantage of this system is further that the dimensions of the ling apparatus may be arranged in a more convenient manner compared with stacking of the cards in a fully aligned pack, where the card pack will have a considerable height when a large number of cards are to be stacked together.

It is an object of the present invention to improve filing systems of this stated kind, whereby a group of cards stacked in the above mentioned staggered relation or visible margin stacking may be easily and readily brought to an operative position for access to same. A further object is to obtain a filing system wherein a full group may be removed from and inserted into the filing apparatus as a unit.

A still further object of the invention is to obtain a filing system of the stated kind, wherein a large number of such groups are readily accessible within a limited space.

The above and other of the various objects and the several features of the invention will become clear from the following description given by way of example and not of limitation of the invention, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a rail member with associated cards for use in the apparatus according to the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of a portion of the apparatus according to the invention, showing part of a belt member supporting a plurality of the rails according to FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective View of a cabinet, illustrating diagrammatically how a specific card is selected for entering data into such card.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatical side sectional view of the drive means of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the parts controlling the movement of the chain member.

FIGURE 6 is a wiring diagram showing the circuits for controlling the movement of the chain member and associated parts.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a portion of a rail.

FIGURE 8 is a somewhat simplified side sectional view of a portion of an auxiliary equipment to be used when inserting and/ or removing cards from a rail.

Generally, the present invention is, as mentioned based on the known feature of arranging a plurality of cards in a stack of the visible margin type, i.e. where each card in the stack only partially overlaps its precedent, whereby a margin portion is left exposed at one edge of the card; in reality there will be two exposed portions of each card, one portion facing to one side along one edge and the other portion facing to the other side along the card edge opposing the first mentioned edge. When lying on a table one such visible margin portion will face downwards while the other will face upwards. The position of any card maybe found by means of references upon the visible margin portion; furthermore, any card may quickly be fully exposed by engaging the subsequent (superimposed) card at the downwards facing exposed portion and lifting. This lifting will also lift all superimposed cards in the stack due to the overlap in the stack.

This selection of any specific card in a stack of the visible margin type may be obtained by supporting the cards at their rear edges by a member extending under a right angle to the said margin, said member having a trailing edge extending parallel to the margin. When said trailing edge is moved at the lower side from the lowermost card in direction towards the uppermost one, the cards will be released one by one in succession. If this member forms a support for the cards, the released cards will fall down by their weight. By suitable arrangement they may be brought to fall down upon further selection means or upon a desk with their upper face fully exposed for the entry of references and the like.

Furthermore, the invention is based on the feature that the actual thickness of such stack will be low and may amount to say the thickness of four to five cards, because the overlap is only partial. In practice, a stack may by itself behave like a single card, provided that the cards are suitably interconnected, for instance by being supported upon a rail at their rear edges, as mentioned above. A stack may be selected in a similar manner, by means of exposed portions of the visible margin type. Preferably, selection of a specific stack from a number of such stacks is obtained by arranging the front edges, i.e. the edges opposing said rail with a similar visible margin portion by means of which selection of a stack may be obtained.

For a correct understanding of how this is obtained, reference should be made to FIGURES l, 2 and 3 of the drawings.

According to FIGURE 1, a rail 10 is provided with a row of studs 11 for supporting a plurality of cards 12 in partially overlapping relationship, whereby a visible margin portion 13 will be exposed on each card along an edge 13a extending under a right angle to the longitudinal direction of the rail 10. On the opposite face of the card a similar visible margin portion will be exposed along the opposed edge 13b of the card. It appears further from FIGURE 1 that a selector member 14 may be used to select a specific card and expose the entire upper face thereof by arranging the extreme left end edge 14a so that this selector member grips the visible margin portion of the subsequent card in the stack, lifting this card together with all superimposed cards in the stack to an upright position. With reference to FIG- URE 2, the exposed card thus selected may rest on a desk plate 15 for instance for entering references in the card.

With reference to FIGURE 2, a plurality of such rails may be arranged on a carrier 16 in a parallel relationship with such spacing that the cards on one rail only partially will overlap the cards on the subsequent rail, when the cards are supported in an upright position. A wheel 17 is arranged to support and locate the carrier 16 in such position relative to a supporting plate 18 that movement of this carrier 16 downwards will bring the card stacks upon the rails to leave the lower edge 19 of the supporting plate one by one in succession. By suitable location of the plate 18 in relation to the carrier in and its supporting wheel, and also by sufficient spacings between subsequent rails on the carrier 16 it may easily be obtained that when a pack of card stacks are received in the upright position shown in FIGURE 2, movement of the carrier 16 downwards will bring one stack of a rail, but only one stack at a time, to fall down when the corresponding card edges are released from their engagement towards the plate 18. The stack of cards in question may then be brought to rest towards the selector member 14 in the position shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, the carrier 16 may be received Within a housing 26 while the selector member 14 may be slidably supported on a guide rod 21 in the front of said housing. Preferably, with reference to FIGURE 4 the carrier 16 is in the form of endless chains 22 arranged'one at each end of the housing and supported on sprockets 23, one of said sprockets being driven through a clutch 24 by an electric motor 25.

By suitable means later to be described, the motor 25 with the associated clutch 24 rotates the chains 22 until the desired rail is in correct position, as will be described in greater details later. In order to prevent that the desk plate interferes with such rotation, this plate is during such rotation retracted to a position beneath a front plate 26, such retracted position being indicated in dotted lines in FIGURE 2.

Movement of the desk plate 15 towards and away from active position is eifected by a mechanism shown in FIGURE 4. A lever 2'? is at its lower end pivotably supported at 28 on the base of the housing 28. The upper end of said lever 27 is by a link 29 connected to the outer end of the desk plate 15. By suitable guides, not shown, the desk plate 15 is guided in its movement to and from active position.

Intermediate its ends the lever 2'7 has a slot 36 receiving a crank pin 31 on a disc 32. This disc 32 is driven by an electric motor 33 through a transmission 34, which is preferably a worm gear. An electric switch 35 is arranged at the periphery of the disc 32, said switch being engageable by two diametrically opposed members 36 to disconnect the motor 33 from the mains supply after one half revolution of the disc 32. As well known, this will move the desk plate either forwards to its active position or backwards towards the retracted inactive position.

Two electric switches 65 and 90, to be referred to later, are arranged in the path of retraction of the desk plate 15, the switch 65 being opened for a moment and then closing again, when the desk plate moves forwardly from retracted position. When the desk plate 15 moves towards retracted position, the switch 65 does not open. The switch 9% is closed when the desk plate 15 is in retracted position, but only in that event. As soon as the desk plate moves away from retracted position, the switch is opened.

As will appear further from FIGURE 4, the plate 18 extends upwards to terminate at 37 in such position adjacent to the uppermost sprocket 23 of the chain 22 that the card stacks, after a trailing position along the upwardly moving portion of the chain, will tilt over and be brought to rest towards the end 37 in an upright position. It will appear that a number of stacks will move downwards in succession while remaining in such position, until the leading stack reaches the end edge 19 of the plate 18. This leading stack will then drop down so that the cards in the stack will rest towards the selector member 14. By further movement, this stack will leave the member 14, too, whereby the cards will drop down so that they hang down from the rails. As mentioned above, the spacing of the rails on the chains 22 is selected so that this release of card stacks from their upright position at the edge 19 proceeds in a controlled manner, and also that one stack is released from the selector member 14 when a subsequent stack is released from the edge 19. In other words, the movement of the chains may be stopped when a specific card stack rests towards the selector member 14 while the preceding stack has just left this member and the subsequent stack still rests towards the plate 18. By this arrangement, selection of a card stack is effected. How this is reached, is explained below, with specific reference to FIGURE 5.

A pointer 39 is associated with a setting knob 46, the pointer 30 cooperating with a disc 41. This disc is along its circumference provided with scale markings corresponding to the rails on the chains. If the number of rails as indicated in FIGURE 5, is for instance 100, the scale markings run from 1 to 100. A well known tooth arrangement, not shown, may be used to enable easy setting in correct positions.

The setting knob 40 is secured to the end of a shaft 42 to which is attached a lever 43 carrying a switch 44. A disc member 45 is synchronized with the movement of the chains 22 so that the disc member 45 will make one full revolution for each full revolution of the chains 22. A cam 46 cooperates with the switch 44 so that this switch is shifted from one position to another, when the cam 46 engages the switch 44. The switch 44 returns to its original position, as soon as the cam 46 leaves the arm of the switch.

'In full lines is indicated a setting for selection of rail No. 68, while in dotted lines is shown a setting for selection of rail No. 41, the latter setting corresponding to the actual position of the rails, i.e. rail No. 41'is in the correct position for inspection.

It remains to be explained that correct position for inspection means that the rail to be selected must have just passed the end edge 19 of the plate member 18. In other words, when rail No. 41 is selected and'brought to correct position, the stack on rail No. 42 rests as the leading stack immediately behind the edge 19 while the stack upon rail No. 41 has just passed this edge and rests towards the selector member 14, which member 14 during rotation of chains for selection always is moved to the extreme left end in FIGURE 3. Rail No. 40 has, in such position, just passed the selector member 14.

When the arrangement has been brought to this position, the motor 33 is started to move the desk'plate forward to active position, whereupon the specific card desired may be selected as explained above.

It will appear herefrorn that selection of a specific card involves starting of the motor 33 until the desk plate -15 has been moved from active position to its retracted position. Then, this motor is stopped by the switch 35 and the motor 25 is brought to move the chains to the position aforesaid, whereupon the drive connection of the motor 25 is disconnected by the switch 44. Therep the mo or 3, is sta ted again e the d disconnection of the motors is shown in FIGURE 5.

Preferably, the motors are three phase motors (in order to accelerate quickly) supplied from three bus bars 47, 48, 49. t

From the bus bar 48 a conduit 50 extends through a relay to one terminal in a triple-poled start switch 52 having its second terminal connected to the bus bar 47 through a conduit 53. The third terminal will be described later. The relay 51 has a stick contact 54 and three front contacts 55. One terminal of the stick contact 54 is connected to the conduit 50 while the other terminal is connected to the bus bar 47 by a conduit 56. The front contacts 55 are connected to the bus bars 47, 48, 49 by conduits 57 and to the terminals of the motor 33 by conduits 58.

From the third terminal of the start switch 52 a conduit 59 extends through a relay 60 to the bus bar 48, so that this relay 60 is energised when the start button of the starter switch 52 is depressed. This relay contains a stick contact 61, a first front contact 62 and three further front contacts 63. One terminal of the stick contact is connected to the bus bar 48 via the conduit 59 of the relay, the other terminal being connected to the bus bar 47 by a conduit 64. The conduit 64 contains a switch 65 for opening the stick circuit of the relay 60 at a time when it is desired to disconnect the motor drive means. One terminal of the front contact 62 is by a branch conduit 66 connected to the conduit 50, the other terminal being connected by a conduit 67 to a pole contact 68 of the switch 44. This switch 44 is connected to the bus bar 49 by a conduit 69, the switch being of a double poled type. The other pole contact will be referred to later.

The three front contacts 63 are connected at one side to a respective terminal of the motor 25 by conduits 70", the other side of said contacts being connected to the bus bars 47, 48, 49 by conduits 71. From two of the conduits 70 a circuit 72. extends via a relay 73 provided with a front contact 74. One side of said contact 74 is connected to one terminal of a magnetic brake 75 by a conduit 76, the other side being connected by a conduit 77, a relay back contact 78 to be described later, and a conduit 79 to the bus bar 47. The other terminal of the brake 75 is connected to the bus bar 48 by a con duit 80, a back contact 81 later to be described, and a conduit 82.

The back contacts 78 and 81 are controlled by a relay 83, which also contains two front contacts 84, 85. One side of the contact 84 is connected to one terminal of a magnetic coupling 86 while the other side is connected to the bus bar 48 by the conduit 82. One pole of the front contact 85 is connected to the other terminal of the coupling 86 by a conduit 88 while the other pole is connected to the bus bar 47 by the conduit 79. The winding of the relay 83 is connected by a conduit 89 in circuit with a switch 90 and with the second pole contact 91 of the switch 44.

A shaft connection 92 is arranged between the motor 25, the magnetic coupling 86, and the brake 75.

Made of operation The operator sets the machine for selection of a specific rail by moving the pointer 39 to point towards the rail number selected. Thereupon, he depresses the start button 52. The selector plate 14 should be in the eX- treme position to the left in FIGURE 3.

When the start button 52 is depressed, the machine operates automatically so that the desk plate is retracted, the chains start moving, whereby the card stacks on the rails pass the edge 19 in succession. When the selected rail has just passed this edge, while the stack of 8 the subsequent rail still rests towards the plate 18 and the preceding stack has just left the selector member 14, the chains stop their movement, and the desk plate moves forward to active position. This automatic operation will have brought the selected rail into operating position.

The operator now moves the selector plate 14 along the row of cards in the stack, until the desired card is found. This card will drop down on the desk plate.

By the arrangement according to the wiring diagram of FIGURE 6, the following automatic operation steps are obtained:

(A) In position of rest, the coupling 86 is disconneeted, and the motors 33 and 25 are stopped.

(13) Depression of the start button will start up both motors 33 and 25. The motor 33 will actuate the mechanical parts driven thereby immediately, i.e. the desk plate 15, whereas the motor 25 is dependent of the coupling 86 and break 75 for operation of its driven mechanical parts.

(C) The desk plate 15 is moved back into inactive position, closing the switch and opening the switch 35 when reaching such position.

(D) Opening of the switch 35 disconnects the motor 33, while closure of the contact 98 connects the coupling 86. The connection of the coupling 86 disconnects the brake by opening the back contacts 78, 81 in the relay 83. It is assumed, for this operation, that the switch 44 rests towards the contact 91, i.e. that the rail in position does not correspond to the actual rail selected by means of the pointer 39.

(E) Closure of the contact 90 eifects in reality that drive connection is obtained between the motor 25 and the chains carrying the rails. Such drive connection is continued as long as the switch 44 rests towards the contact 91, but depends on the desk plate 15 being in its retracted position and closing the contact 90.

(F) When the switch 44 is shifted from the contact 91 to the contact 68, the coupling 86 is disconnected and the brake 75 connected. This shifting is effected by the cam 46 of FIGURE 5, whereby the relay 83 is disconnected. Mechanically, this means that. movement of the chain is stopped. Electrically, the motor 33 is started again.

(G) Starting of the motor 33 moves the desk plate 15 towards active position. Such movement towards active position will open the switch 98, and will also cause that the switch 65 is opened for a moment, and thereupon closed again. The second operation disconnects the motor 25.

(H) When the active position of the desk plate 15 has been reached, the stick circuit through the switch 35 is opened at said switch, whereby the motor 33 is disconnected as the final step.

It remains to be noted that the relay 73 in the circuit of the brake 75 connects the brake only When the motor 25 is running, i.e. when automatic selection of a rail takes place, the brake being disconnetced when the system is at rest. The relay 73 may be omitted if it should be desirable to leave the chains braked in the position of rest.

The rails It has been mentioned that a number of one hundred rails may be arranged in the device. Each rail may carry for instance fifty cards. In practice, a total number of one hundred rails will give a considerable weight, wherefore the rails must be of a strong light-weight construction.

Principally, the rails are according to FIGURE 7 made from a strip of spring steel shaped into channeled crosssection having a rounded web portion 100 and two opposing channel sides 101 and 102 integral with the Web portion. The side 182 is oifset at 103. A head forming portion 104 is arranged at the outer end edges to prevent damage to the cards.

To one channel side 1101 is secured a row of studs 105, preferably by being riveted thereto. The free ends of said studs rest towards the opposite channel side 102.

An auxiliary equipment for use when inserting or removing cards is shown in FIGURE 8. This apparatus comprises a base plate 106 having a first gripping memher 107 secured to its front edge. A hook portion 108 on the member N7 is arranged to grip the beaded outer edge .of the .channel side iil l. On a bracket 109 is mounted a stud 110 pivotabiy supporting a double crank lever 111. One branch of this lever is provided with a second gripping member 112 while the other branch is linked to a link 1113. The other end of the link 113 is linked to a lever 114 secured to a shaft 115. An actuating hand lever 116 is also secured to said shaft 115. Furthermore, the link 1113 has an angular run at 117 to enable movement of the lower pivot axis past a dead centre without interfering with the shaft 115.

It will be obvious that this arrangement together with the feature of manufacturing the rails from spring steel will reduce the weight of the rails while still forming strong supports for the large number of cards. Thus, the arrangement according to FIGS. 7 and 8 is of great importance for the practice of the invention, when as much as thousands of cards are to be handled.

It should be noted that convenient arrangement of the different parts in the device, specifically by locating the switch 65 properly, it may be obtained that the chains will move slowly forwards when reaching the final position while the desk plate 15 is moved to operative position. This may be correlated with the time of release of the corresponding stack from the edge 19, so that said stack is released from this edge after the desk plate having moved so far that it will catch the stack in question. Now, if the operator before depressing the start button places the selector member 14 in such position that only the cards to the right of the desired card number are caught by said selector member, the desired card will fall down upon the desk plate, ready for inspection.

By arranging scale markings for instance along the supporting rod 21 the selector member 14 may be preset to a position corresponding to desired card numbers upon the rails. If desired, this setting may also be made an automatic one. In that event it may be desirable to move the selector member 14 to the extreme right hand position for reducing wear on the cards during rotation.

It must be understood that the accompanying drawings and the foregoing description are for purposes of illustration only and are not restrictive of the invention. Any similar devices falling within the scope of theaccompanying claims, or their equivalents, must be considered to be within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a filing apparatus, a housing, an endless supporting member rotatably received within said housing, a number of card carrying rails, means supporting said rails on said member at right angles to the direction of rotation of said supporting member, and said rails being supported in parallelism with controlled spacings therebetween, each of said railssupporting a card stack consisting of a number of cards at a first card edge in partially overlapping relationship to expose a first marginal portion along an edge extending at an angle to the first mentioned edge, means supporting at least some of the card stacks on subsequent rails in partially overlapping relationship to expose a second marginal portion opposite to said first card edge, first selecting means for selecting a specific card by supporting the superimposed cards by said first marginal portion and leaving the desired card together with underlying cards in the stack unsupported, and second selecting means for selecting a specific stack by supporting subsequent stacks by said second marginal portion while leaving the desired stack together with preceding stacks unsupported.

2. In a filing apparatus according ,to-claim 1, wherein said first selecting means is movable in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rails and has a trailing edge cooperating with said first marginal portion to release .cards one byone in succession as the first selecting means is moved in a direction from the lowermost card of the stack towards the uppermost one.

3. In a filing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second selecting means has a releasing edge extending substantially parallel to the rails whereas the cards have a front edge also extending substantially parallel to said rails and cooperating with said releasing edge, all such front edges of the cards in one stack being aligned but extending at a distance from the corresponding front edges of the cards of the subsequent stack to expose said second marginal portion therebetween when supported by said second selecting means, and means for obtaining a relative movement between second selecting means and the said front edges whereby the front edges of the stacks will pass one by one in succession past said releasing edge to move the second marginal portions out of supporting engagement towards said second selecting means.

4. In a filing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said first selecting means is arranged to catch the stacks one by onein succession as they are released by said re leasing edge, said first selecting means having a corresponding releasing edge also releasing the stacks one by one in succession so that only one stack will be supported at a time by said first selecting means,.said releasing edges extending substantially parallel to each other and to the rails.

5. A filing system according to claim 4, comprising drive means for moving said endless supporting member past said second releasing edge, control means being associated with said drive means for stopping such movement when any specific stack is brought into position to be re leased as the next stack from said releasing edge.

6. A filing system according to claim 5, wherein said stack supporting member is a pair of endless chains supporting opposite ends of the rails, said rails having means for supporting the rear edges of a number of cards in the partially overlapping stacked manner aforesaid, the spacings of the rails being regulated so that the stacks will be released one by one in succession when the cards are suspended at their front edges by a plate member having a lower edge forming said releasing edge.

7. A filing system according to claim 6, wherein said control means comprises a rotatable cam sheave means synchronized with the movement of the chains to make one full revolution for every full revolution of the chains, a switch means being engageable by a cam on said cam sheave means, and further means for controlling the said switch means controlling supply of energy to said drive means, and means for controlling the position of said switch means in relation to said cam.

8. A filing system according to claim 4, wherein a desk plate is arranged in said housing in a position to catch the cards released from said trailing edge so that the caught cards will be supported in a position for entering references etc. into the uppermost card in the stack upon said desk plate.

9. A filing system according to claim 8, comprising means for moving said desk plate from an active position for catching the cards to an inactive position in which said desk plate does not interfere with the free release of cards from said trailing edge and said releasing edge.

10. A filing system according to claim 7, comprising a desk plate in said housing for catching released cards, and drive means for moving said desk plate to and from an active position from and to an inactive position, control means being associatedwith the drive means of the chains for moving said desk plate into inactive position before movement of the chains is started.

11. A filing system according to claim 10, wherein said control means comprises means for moving the desk plate from inactive position into active position after completingrmovement ofthe chains.to.the desired position.

12. A filing system according to claim 6, wherein the rails are made from spring steel into channeled cross section, stud members for supporting the rear edges of cards being arranged on one side of said channel.

13. A filing system according to claim 12, wherein said studs are secured to one side only while the outer ends of said studs are loosely engaging the opposite side, the resiliency of the web portion enabling movement of said opposite side away from said outer ends to enable removal and insert of cards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Coburn Sept. 30, 1879 Shepard Feb. 11, 1902 Inches -2 Feb. 22, 1921 Smith Mar. 5, 1929 Benson Dec. 24, 1935 Ortendahl May 8, 1951 Herzoe Dec. 15, 1953 

